Have a fabulous moment as you take this 4 days Bwindi & Bunyonyi safari in southwestern Uganda where you will encounter the mountain gorillas, Batwa pygmy community tour and encounter one of the original African cultures, take a boat cruise on Lake Bunyonyi as you explore its beautiful scenery and over 20 islands.
This safari will also offer you a great opportunity to visit the Uganda equator in Kayabwe, dotted with green nature, culture and wildlife; you can’t surely miss it!
Detailed itinerary.
Day 1: Arrival / pick up from the hotel and transfer to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park.
Be picked up from the hotel and make a transfer to Bwindi national park passing via Masaka-Mbarara highway. Bwindi is one of the unique destinations which hosts 50% of endangered mountain gorillas. It is believed that this park hosts over a quarter of mountain gorilla population in the world. The park has up to 18 habituated gorilla families and a great opportunity to experience the best of Uganda’s gorillas and Africa at large.
In addition to mountain gorillas, the park is home to other wildlife, with over 350 bird species including 23 Albertine rift endemics. In addition to over 120 mammal species including several primates like Chimpanzees and olive baboons. This journey will include an enroute lunch stopover and on arrival, you will head straight to the booked lodge.
Day 2: Gorilla trekking and optional Batwa community visit.
Wake up, have your breakfast and drive to the park headquarters in Bwindi National Park where you will receive briefing that may last for about 30 minutes. The briefing is important as you get to know about the rules and regulations, knowledge about the forest and gorillas, assignment of the park ranger guide among others. You will then enter the forest with help of the park guide and start your adventure.
Trekking time can be 3 to 5 hours depending on where you locate the gorillas. After finding them, you will have one hour in their presence as you interact and enjoy their active behavior.
After the trek, you will transfer to the lodge and then have lunch. There is also an option of visiting the Batwa pygmies community found at the edge of the forest. They will entertain you with traditional dances and music, fire making using traditional methods among others.
Day 3: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi, boat cruise and hiking.
Have a leisurely breakfast and then transfer to Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale where you will explore the second deepest lake in Africa after Lake Tanganyika. This lake gets its name from the local word “Bunyonyi” which means the small birds that live around this lake.
You will take a boat ride which lasts for about 2 hours as you explore the different islands like punishment island, Leprosy Island which have traditional stories attached to them. After lunch, you have an option of hiking one of the hills around the lake, take a zip lining experience or just having leisure around one of the resorts. The day ends with a nap at night.
Day 4: Transfer back to Kampala and stopover at the Uganda equator.
Have breakfast and transfer back to Kampala with en route stopover, at the Uganda equator. View the experiments and photos and it is on this point that you will enjoy delicious traditional lunch.
Have an option of purchasing some handmade crafts to support the community at this point. Be dropped at Entebbe International Airport and this will be the end of the tour.
